“He’s extremely talented. He’s a very good general when he’s on the pitch. He gives his guys confidence. It’s good to see a young player inspiring the respect of his teammates in this way, and you can see by the way everyone is responding to him and looking at him. You have to be a special player to get the respect of your guys in your second year in the NBA ”.
The compliment is signed Draymond Green, addressed to LaMelo Ball after the Hornets victory over the Warriors on Sunday night. It must be said that in his last three games, the sophomore point guard from Charlotte has shown he has everything he needs in store, with a personal best 17 rebounds against the Knicks (and an interception record tied with five stolen balloons), a match where he shone in scoring (21 points to 8/17 shooting, 4/8 to 3-points) against the Warriors, and a new record last night against the Wizards, with the assist this time (14), all coming to validate his first triple-double of the season, succeeded last week on the floor of the Lakers.
LaMelo Ball, a complete player? It is still James Borrego in the best position to talk about it.
“He weighs on the game in so many ways. He can score, have a record night passing, circulate the ball properly… The other night he took 17 rebounds. The kid always finds a way to have an impact on the victory ”, did he declare. “Even if his shots didn’t come in tonight (4/18), he hung on. He defended on the other side of the floor, grabbing rebounds, while circulating the ball. These are examples of his impact, sometimes it can be the rebound, other times the scoring… He does everything possible. This is why he is such a special player ”.
A leader-passer above all
Tonight, the Hornets turned the game upside down by opting for a five “small ball”, with Miles Bridges pivoting in the third quarter. LaMelo Ball accompanied the Hornets’ run by delivering five assists in the final five minutes of the period, feasting Jalen McDaniels twice behind the arc before sending Miles Bridges alley-oop into orbit and serving Kelly Oubre Jr. in transition for a fully cooked basket.
“We decided to play” small ball “because it was difficult to finish in the circle because of their size and their scope”, added James Borrego. “This five with LaMelo Ball, Cody Martin, Jalen McDaniels, Kelly Oubre and Miles Bridges really changed the game. It was a set, because we were scoring and our zone was well in place. We had stops, we started running and the ball moved. It also allowed us to stretch the game. This group deserves to be congratulated ”.
With his performance of the night, LaMelo Ball’s stat line is impressive on this start of the season, at nearly 20 points per game, nearly two rebounds more on average than last season, and 7.1 assists, a stat also up compared to rookie season, which allows him to integrate the Top 10 of the best assisters in the league, alongside Fred VanVleet and… Draymond Green.
“He has this ability to score, but he’s really a leader-passer first. He sees the game like no one else. I am happy to be able to play with him. He finds everyone, he knows where each player’s favorite spots are, where each player needs to receive the ball and he does it at the right time. He could do that kind of performance every night ”, for his part confided Miles Bridges.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY8zhiLRVKg
| LaMelo Ball | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Tirs | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2020-21 | NO | 51 | 29 | 43.6 | 35.2 | 75.8 | 1.2 | 4.7 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 15.8 |
| 2021-22 | NO | 15 | 32 | 43.0 | 38.7 | 91.7 | 1.4 | 6.1 | 7.5 | 7.1 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 0.4 | 19.3 |
| Total | 66 | 30 | 43.4 | 36.2 | 78.6 | 1.3 | 5.0 | 6.3 | 6.4 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 0.4 | 16.6 | |
